


winter soldiers

by JanaRumpandRCJawnn (JanaRumpandRCClara)



Series: USS Ix Chel [2]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Aliens, Alternate Universe - Space, Gen, Star Trek References
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-21
Updated: 2016-01-21
Packaged: 2018-05-15 06:07:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5774329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JanaRumpandRCClara/pseuds/JanaRumpandRCJawnn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After some bad choices Tony almost loses the ship, but gains another two crewmembers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	winter soldiers

She missed the snow.

Sitting by the window of their compartment, she watched the stars outside and the spaceships moving. Natasha could remember how fascinated she had once been by everything, for the first two decades she couldn’t get tired of it all. Everything had been new, infinite possibilities. No matter how far the ships flew, they could never map everything, there would always be somewhere they could go when things got fucked up. Now, though, she missed the cold, she missed watching her sky and having snowball battles with the others. Sometimes a part of her even missed seeing the blood covering the snow. She was really far away from Alfheim and she was both glad for that and nostalgic – not that she would ever admit it to anyone.

There was noise in the bunker bed and she saw Bucky sitting up. He ran his hand through his hair, then stared at her, eye still half closed.

_“Has the mechanic called?”_

_“A few hours ago. I thought we could look for a job after you’re done.”_ She got up, throwing him a shirt as she went towards her shoes.

She could see him shrugging, which she always counted as a yes. If he had anything against it, he would have said so. They both knew they needed to take jobs, their small compartment and food and mechanic expenses, everything costed credits and they could only make money working. Her mind went to the rent and all the math she had to do to make sure they kept their licenses and visas.

There was a quick tap on her shoulder and she turned to face Bucky, putting calculations aside. “Let’s go?”

“Yeah.”

They never ate at their compartment, truth be told they only used the place to have a safe place in which to sleep and store their shit. It was a matter of pride to spend time in the hallways and face the distrustful looks and badly concealed disdain. Today at least no one was trying to get physical with them – Natasha wasn’t sure she would be in the mood to solve things in a non-violent way. They didn’t speak as they walked, but that was just how things went. If one spends something around 40 years with the same person all the time, eventually there's not much else to say. The tension they carried ever since they met certainly didn't help on that front, forgiveness' a tricky thing after all.

 _“Is it hurting?”_ She asked whilst they got in the elevator.

_“What do you think?”_

_“Like hell.”_

His arm had malfunctioned before. She had learned to watch the signs in his slightest movements. The way he flinched harder when she touched his shoulder or the silence, even more pronounced than usual.

They soon arrived at the mechanical shop, the woman a Twi’lek with orange skin. She informed Natasha that there wouldn’t be much to do if they didn’t stop being so careless. Natasha sighed before sitting on a desk and turning on the holographic interface from the Guild to check the newest bounties. There was bound to be something decent for them to do. Bucky didn’t speak, only nodded and grunted in pain every once in a while. Even so, she told him the briefing on every name on the list.

 _“Wait, this one sounds decent. A gang of multiple species, a rodian, three humans, a gank and a Ba’ku.”_ She tried not to show her slight excitement -Natasha had always favored bounties that weren’t too simple, too easy. This one would require tracking, it would be exciting. There was a smile trying to tug itself into her lips, she didn’t allow it. _“And the reward is phenomenal.”_

He seemed to be thinking about it, then a nod. Natasha let a smirk break through as she contacted the Guild to inform they wanted that bounty.

Even if she was thousands of light years from home, even if she hadn’t carried a spear in almost sixty years, even if this was nothing like the cold, snow covered planes of Alfheim, she felt like a young hunter who had just found a new prey. And she wouldn’t lie and say she didn’t like it. Not only did she enjoy hunting people down, she was really good at it.

\--

Tony wasn’t sure how he was supposed to tell Coulson.

Starfleet regulations didn’t come with a section labelled “How to proceed if you lose your ship in a game of cards to a gang in an outer rim planet.” And if it did he could imagine it would consist in only two words: Just Don’t.

Yet, here he was. Walking around while Peggy and Bruce stared at him – the only people that had been there and watched as **Captain** Tony Stark lost the USS Impala. Well, them and the full tavern.

“He will kill me, won’t him?” He asked the other two.

“Probably.” Carter replied, sighing and leaning against the wall.

“You have to tell him, though. And Pepper, and all the rest of the crew. We don’t want panic if these troublemakers show up trying to take away the ship.” Bruce said, trying to sound reassuring but failing miserably.

He took a deep breath. By all the gods, he hadn’t been this nervous since he was a teenager. He had to do it, though. Bruce was right, the idiots from the tavern could show up at any point, and he didn’t want to imagine what a surprise aggressive visit could do to his informal crewmembers. Bruce wasn’t the one that worried him, Hawk on the other hand… Tony didn’t want to make him go through any stress.

“I’ll do it. Carter, can you tell Angie and the girls from the med bay? Make sure they are okay. I’m gonna face the beast. If I die, my last wish is that you become captain.”

She rolled her eyes at his drama. “I’m not getting your body from Coulson’s room if you die.”

He tried not to look too disappointed. Turning to Bruce, he patted his friend’s shoulder.

“Wish me luck.”

\---

“He what?” Pepper asked, staring at Coulson, then at Tony, then at Coulson again and finally at Tony. “Please, Tony, tell me this is just a tall tale.”

“I wish it was, Pep.”

She took a deep breath before grabbing her PADD and getting up.

“Do we know if they really intend to take the ship?”

“Yeah, I'm pretty sure.”

Coulson sighed – Tony was getting really tired of all the sighing around him, it was not like he could go to the past and stop himself – and Tony could see his jaw clenched. Damn, he probably was really pissed if he was letting even a little bit of his emotions show. Well, Tony couldn’t say he'd expected something different.

He was about to apologize – again – when they all heard through the intercom.

“Stark.” Peggy said, sounding equal measures angry and tired. “The jerks are here, I’m gonna get the non-combatant crew to an emergency pod. You solve this, we get out. You don’t, I’m leaving your ass behind.”

Great. Just great.

He had to do something. He was the captain, he wouldn’t let some assholes take it from him. If only they had someone who could have their back on a fight – he would never ask Bruce to hulk up, it was too dangerous, and the doctor had said more than once he didn’t like assuming his other form. Other than him only Peggy, Rhodey and Fury could do something, and not that Tony didn’t trust their abilities, he just didn’t wanna risk anyone getting hurt. They were fucked… Or not. A really good idea came to his mind, an idea so good he took Pepper by the shoulders and smiled.

“I can solve this, but I’ll need you to do something for me.”

“Why should we deposit our chances of surviving and keeping the ship into your hands?”

“Because I’m actually doing something that you would approve this time, Pointy. I’m gonna call the responsible authorities.”

\---

Hill didn’t like this situation.

She knew they had a plan, for god’s sake she had volunteered to it. Because at least she knew about species behavior to identify if they got in a bad situation. However, watching Tony bullshitting his way through stalling a group of very violent species cluttering their bridge wasn’t something she would repeat if they managed to get out of this mess.

The group was very loud about what they were going to do with the ship – and with the crew – if Tony didn't give them the manual overrides to the bridge stations and get the fuck out of their way. She had to resist the urge to do something foolish, like grab her phaser. Aside from being considered a threatening gesture, that would ensure a gunfire. The ship wasn’t military so she wasn’t theoretically authorized to even have a gun right now, but that didn’t erase three years of training from her mind.

“This is your last shot, smartass. You and pretty lady there get the fuck out of our ship our I’ll be wearing your skins as my new coat.”

Maria was about to tug Tony and drag his ass away from this mess when she heard a noise. The turbolift, then soft screeching. The group heard it too, and all turned to face the door.

“What was that?” One of them asked, grabbing his gun.

The one that had been threatening them up until ten seconds ago turned around, obviously scared.

“What was that?!”

Stark just looked smug, and put his hands up before shrugging. Hill couldn’t contain a sigh, before pulling the captain back just in time to avoid the punch that was thrown at him.

“No need to be so violent, I really don’t know what that noise is.”

All the gang was staring at the door when it opened, revealing a female with the most predatory smile Maria had ever seen. It went well with her mean looking nails (their turbolift was marked for sure).

 _“Hey, Sailor._ She said, in the most perfect Alavr Hill had ever heard.

Everything that happened afterwards was so fast, the woman had two of the gang laying in the ground unconscious with just two movements. Another hunter (they had to be the bounty hunters Tony had mentioned) dropped from the vents right after to get another two down. Both the hunters stared at the last remaining member of the gang, who promptly dropped his gun and kneeled on the floor.

 _“That’s no fun, how are we supposed to know who won then?”_ The male spoke as they tied the group together. Again in Alavr. Maria tried not to get a bit too excited, but she had never in her years studying different languages and cultures had the experience to watch people speaking it.

_“Obviously me, I distracted the weaklings. You wouldn’t have done shit without me.”_

“That was awesome!” Tony finally chimed in, sounding as excited as a five year old that had just woken up on Christmas.

Both the bounty hunters turned to face the captain, and Hill finally realized something that should have been pretty obvious since the female had spoken up. They were Elfs. The markings on their faces, the pointy ears and the overall predator vibe were dead giveaways. The fact that they were both dressed in black and carrying weapons did not make them any more friendly either. The woman smirked and offered her hand to the captain.

“You must be Captain Stark. I’m Natasha, this is Bucky, we are the hunters you sent info to.”

Tony was shaking her hand, over exited like a puppy.

“You can call me Tony. I was wondering, do you guys need a ride somewhere to drop those idiots off?”

Natasha arched an eyebrow and turned to Bucky, the male just shrugged.

“It sounds good to us. We’ll just need somewhere to put our stasis cage.”

Hill could see the idea on Tony’s head, and she knew that within two standard hours the man would be going on about having two new crewmembers. That wasn’t her business though, and perhaps, just perhaps, she didn’t dislike the idea of new people on the ship so much. If anything, it was good to get a better grip of isolated cultures.

“Maria, can you please go tell everyone the good news?”

“Aye Aye, Captain.”

\---

Tony was crushing. That was a fact. Natasha and Bucky were so cool. Like the same level of cool that Sam and Bruce were, but different.

From everything he had heard about Elfs, he had expected them to brood and be aggressive to him. Well, Bucky was a bit of a brood, but it seemed more like a deadpan thing than hating every moment of life thing. The trio had been talking in the recroom ever since things had calmed down and it only made him more fascinated.

“Where have you guys been all my life?”

Bucky smiled at the captain’s slurred commentary and leaned in. If Tony weren’t already married to the ship, he would have totally thought every movement they made was incredibly sexual.

“Is it now that you ask us to join your crew?”

Tony would have blushed if he had any sense of shame, but instead, he just smirked back at the bounty hunter.

“Why do you ask that?”

Natasha was the one to reply his question, face completely blank.

“You have gotten sort of a fame. Stopping by dangerous planets and leaving with more crewmembers than you arrived.”

“It only happened twice!” Not enough for this to arrive in the ears of bounty hunters at least.

Natasha almost looked smug as she took another sip of her glass.

“So, are you going to invite us, or are we not your kind of dangerous species?”

Well, Tony could play to that tune. He leaned back, trying not to get too happy or at least trying not to show it.

“If you want. I’d have you two.”

The pair exchanged glances, like seeking to know what the other thought of it. Their dynamic was so amazing, Tony couldn’t stop imagining how awesome would it be to have them on the crew. Fuck what Pointy thought of it, fuck the rules about not having species that weren’t part of the Federation as part of the crew.

“We’ll just hand that bounty over, after that we’re free to join.” Natasha said, staring at him as if trying to read his reactions.

“I’ll have a chat with Miss Potts then, so she can make your joining as official as possible.”

He hurriedly got up and left the recroom and, as soon as the doors closed behind him, couldn’t help but punch the air. This voyage would be even more amazing than he had planned.

**Author's Note:**

> Bucky and Nat are my children, and there's so much to them I wanna write.  
> Hope ya'll like it.  
> Kissus


End file.
